Showers of Sparks
by ScreamingSatellite
Summary: The Organization somehow gets hold of some fireworks, and all hell is breaking loose in the Castle That Never Was. Axel, Roxas and Xion escape to Twilight Town while Xigbar sets off M-80s, Demyx keeps flicking firecrackers in random directions, Larxene and Marluxia try to set each other on fire, and Saix yells at everybody to shut up. Xemnas, of course, is nowhere to be seen.
1. Showers of Sparks Pt I

_A/N: So I wrote this fic for the 4th of July because I was bored. I guess that's all for now. Enjoy :3  
_

**Showers of Sparks, Pt. I**

The Grey Area didn't look very grey that evening after everyone finished their missions. Roxas, Axel, and Xion had just entered the room to discover that their coworkers had discovered packages of fireworks and started to set them off—_inside_ the building.

"What is going on…?" Axel said as the dark corridor closed behind them.

"What are those?" Xion asked. "They look so—"

"Out of the way!" Axel pushed Roxas and Xion behind him as a firecracker flew past the spot where Xion had just stood. "Demyx, what the hell are you doing? You could have hit one of them!"

He grinned. "Axel, you forget," he said. "I don't have a heart. I don't care." He lit another one and flicked it in Larxene's direction.

"Roxas, Xion, I'm taking you guys outta here," Axel said to the two Nobodies standing behind him. He turned around and strode straight back through the dark corridor through which they had come.

Xemnas and Saïx stood side by side at the front of the room, watching the action. Saïx had begun to shout at Demyx and a few of the other members to stop, but he hadn't succeeded so far. In the middle of his tirade, Xigbar lit something that looked suspiciously like an M-80, and the whole room resounded with the resulting explosion.

Saïx stopped mid-shout and shot him down with a stare that could have killed an entire garden. In response, Xigbar and a few of the others with him burst out laughing. Xemnas, of course, took this opportunity to leave the room.

"Damn you all," Saïx muttered under his breath, but Demyx threw a firecracker at him, and he had to jump out of the way and continue shouting.

Vexen strode into the Grey Area moments later, stopping when he saw the chaos that had taken over the room. His face contorted into a scowl and he remarked, "Explosives indoors? This is highly illogical. Where is Xemnas in all of this?"

To his right, he spotted Xigbar, Xaldin and Lexaeus huddled around something. To his left, he could see Saïx staring him down, practically daring him to join in the madness. Vexen looked between the two of them for a moment, but curiosity—and experiments, he told himself—got the better of him, and he turned to his right. "What have we here?" he said.

In one corner of the room, Larxene stood with her fists clenched. "The next time I get my hands on some explosives," she whispered under her breath, her eyes locked on Demyx, "he is going to get _burned—_"

She broke off and shrieked as she felt something hot flicker at the sleeve of her cloak. A flame licked the seam right next to her hand, and she waved her arm around, trying to put it out. She had decided that at the risk of embarrassing herself in front of her comrades, she would resort to stop, drop, and roll, but instead someone caught her hand and blew out the fire.

"Larxene, don't throw such a fit," Marluxia teased. He stood behind her and flicked a lighter in his hand. "It's just me."

"Why you little—!" she screeched and took a swing at him. Once again, he caught her arm, this time holding it close to his chest. Larxene ceased her flailing for a moment and looked him in the eye. "What…?" she began.

But he flicked the lighter on a little too close to her sleeve again and she hit him in the chest, shoving him backward. He started to laugh—until she swiped the lighter from his hand.

In a room down the hall, Xemnas stood alone, staring out the window.

"Kingdom Hearts," he muttered under his breath. "When will it end?"


	2. Showers of Sparks Pt II

**Showers of Sparks, Pt. II**

Twilight Town's sunset had long since faded. Axel showed Roxas and Xion the way onto the clock tower in the near-darkness. He pointed out toward the place where the sun usually set. "See that?"

"I don't see anything," Xion admitted.

"Not yet, you don't," Axel replied. "In just a few minutes, some of the people from this town are gonna light fireworks. We'll have the best view from here. I'm surprised nobody stole it."

"What do you mean, 'fireworks'?" Roxas and Xion both asked at the same time.

Axel sighed and slid down onto the ledge of the clock tower. "I forgot you two are both still tadpoles," he muttered, shaking his head. "Every year somebody decides to blow a bunch of stuff up in the sky, and the whole town stays up to watch it. It's pretty great, actually. But not when you're all alone."

Roxas and Xion chose to completely ignore the last half of his explanation, both of them screeching, "We're not tadpoles!"

Axel tipped his head back and laughed. As he did so, the first showers of sparks went up in the air several hundred yards in front of them. He fell silent and pointed to the place on the horizon where the lights were visible.

"Over there," he said. "Sit down and look."

Roxas and Xion sat down on either side of him, with Xion to his left and Roxas to his right. "What is it?" Roxas asked.

"I told you," Axel responded. "Fireworks."

A blast shot up in the air and exploded in a spiral of colors and lights. The two Nobodies next to him flinched and cried out while he started laughing again.

"What happened to the two members of the Organization I knew?" he exclaimed. "You know, the ones who fearlessly took on Heartless ten times bigger than them?"

"Th…They blow up stuff for fun?" Xion whispered, her face peeking out from behind her hands. "I don't—"

Another explosion went off in front of them. Xion stopped talking midsentence and shrieked, hiding behind her hands. Roxas jumped and nearly fell backward.

A smirk spread across Axel's face and he put his arms around the two Nobodies, pulling them closer to him. "Aww, don't worry, you two," he teased. "I'll protect you."

As if to illustrate his point, another explosion lit the sky ahead of them, one that shimmered in hues of green and blue. It cast a light on the three of them before throwing them into darkness once more.


End file.
